I thought the graffiti made this a most interesting corner, and I found that corner, on that street, to be alive in a way that has now been snuffed. Certainly the building was restored, and three very rich people will buy apartments there, but I will miss it. It was very beautiful to me.
this makes me so sad, as i've visited and photographed that corner many times and have always been delighted by the changing layers of graffiti and color there...
m.heart - So glad you knew that corner! And I'm so glad I took pictures while I could.
Well, you speak for the 'burbs, Guy, and "we" speak for some of the city. Tagging per se is not something I like. But this corner, and some others, with layers of what I would term street art, is, er, was, fascinating. It was a place of expression, and approprate in its context, as it was pretty isolated.
And so much of what is Art, and which is honoured as such by being hung in exclusive galleries, is not better, and is sometimes worse, than what is in this picture.
I'm not elevating it to super status, I'm just saying I like it and find it worthwhile.
This wall, as art, is - was - not marketed, sold to the highest bidder or treated as an investment by a slush funder with money to burn and no aesthetic opinion that extended beyond the shape of his trophy wife's legs or colour of his tie.
It was not part of the machine that is the art world today.
But our divergent views are probably irreconcilable, and possible because because we live in free-ish countries, one of which, to the NW of you, will soon see me as one of its CITIZENS!
A loss for sure, thank you for recording the damage. I've occasionally wondered whither the evolution of our species had there been a graffiti police in Lascaux ... hmmm...
The NE corner of Spring Street and Elizabeth. Then, above, and two days ago, below.
In my opinion, the loss was the beautiful craftmanship of the builder which has now been restored.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying Ban Graffiti! but rather pass a law that graffiti may only be sprayed on a wall erected at your own cost?
Pfeeww, another wall of our loft saved by the bell... ;-))
ReplyDeleteI thought the graffiti made this a most interesting corner, and I found that corner, on that street, to be alive in a way that has now been snuffed. Certainly the building was restored, and three very rich people will buy apartments there, but I will miss it. It was very beautiful to me.
ReplyDeletethis makes me so sad, as i've visited and photographed that corner many times and have always been delighted by the changing layers of graffiti and color there...
ReplyDeleteSo why don't the graffiti artists club together and buy the apartments - problem solved?
ReplyDeleteIf graffiti was left to spread unchecked, what would New York's Brownstones be called? Graffito Homes?
m.heart - So glad you knew that corner! And I'm so glad I took pictures while I could.
ReplyDeleteWell, you speak for the 'burbs, Guy, and "we" speak for some of the city. Tagging per se is not something I like. But this corner, and some others, with layers of what I would term street art, is, er, was, fascinating. It was a place of expression, and approprate in its context, as it was pretty isolated.
And so much of what is Art, and which is honoured as such by being hung in exclusive galleries, is not better, and is sometimes worse, than what is in this picture.
I'm not elevating it to super status, I'm just saying I like it and find it worthwhile.
This wall, as art, is - was - not marketed, sold to the highest bidder or treated as an investment by a slush funder with money to burn and no aesthetic opinion that extended beyond the shape of his trophy wife's legs or colour of his tie.
It was not part of the machine that is the art world today.
But our divergent views are probably irreconcilable, and possible because because we live in free-ish countries, one of which, to the NW of you, will soon see me as one of its CITIZENS!
Yee haw, git awn liddle doggy, swish! Sorry, got carried away.
A loss for sure, thank you for recording the damage. I've occasionally wondered whither the evolution of our species had there been a graffiti police in Lascaux ... hmmm...
ReplyDeleteKeep raging against the machine, Marie!
Keli'i
I suppose that my opinion on graffito is coloured by the stuff found in Cape Town, which can roughly be classified as follows:
ReplyDelete61% pure vandalism
39% gangsterism
0% art
Finis en klaar